Historic Climate Change Agreement in force from Today – CARICOM Member States signed on

Several CARICOM Member States signed the Paris Agreement when the Book was opened for signature at the United Nations on 22 April 2016 

The Paris Agreement on climate change will enter into force today, 4 November 2016, thirty days after the required minimum of States (55) – accounting for 55 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions – ratified the convention.

The central aim of the Agreement is to keep global temperature rise during this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to try to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius (the level pushed by CARICOM during the Paris negotiations). This commitment supports Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (Climate Action) and 12 others that include targets addressing climate change.

Countries will begin to tackle implementation of the Paris Agreement when COP22 (the 22nd Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)) convenes in Marrakech, Morocco from 7 to 18 November 2016. The CARICOM Secretariat will joint several CARICOM Member States at this meeting.

At this first meeting of the parties to the Agreement, areas of focus will include emissions reduction, resilience, finance, transparency, technology transfer, migration, capacity building, and loss and damages.

CARICOM MEMBER STATES – DATES FOR SIGNATURE AND RATIFICATION